diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/RemoteClusterService.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/RemoteClusterService.java
index aa443b0766ba4..45e3fc5bc0bd5 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/RemoteClusterService.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/RemoteClusterService.java
@@ -98,6 +98,14 @@ public final class RemoteClusterService extends AbstractComponent implements Clo
     public static final Setting<String> REMOTE_NODE_ATTRIBUTE = Setting.simpleString("search.remote.node.attr",
         Setting.Property.NodeScope);
 
+    /**
+     * If <code>true</code> connecting to remote clusters is supported on this node. If <code>false</code> this node will not establish
+     * connections to any remote clusters configured. Search requests executed against this node (where this node is the coordinating node)
+     * will fail if remote cluster syntax is used as an index pattern. The default is <code>true</code>
+     */
+    public static final Setting<Boolean> ENABLE_REMOTE_CLUSTERS = Setting.boolSetting("search.remote.connect", true,
+        Setting.Property.NodeScope);
+
     private static final char REMOTE_CLUSTER_INDEX_SEPARATOR = ':';
 
     private final TransportService transportService;
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/SearchTransportService.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/SearchTransportService.java
index 6cd9e559aa145..4c4372d57495a 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/SearchTransportService.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/SearchTransportService.java
@@ -79,13 +79,18 @@ public class SearchTransportService extends AbstractLifecycleComponent {
 
     private final TransportService transportService;
     private final RemoteClusterService remoteClusterService;
+    private final boolean connectToRemote;
 
     public SearchTransportService(Settings settings, ClusterSettings clusterSettings, TransportService transportService) {
         super(settings);
+        this.connectToRemote = RemoteClusterService.ENABLE_REMOTE_CLUSTERS.get(settings);
         this.transportService = transportService;
         this.remoteClusterService = new RemoteClusterService(settings, transportService);
-        clusterSettings.addAffixUpdateConsumer(RemoteClusterService.REMOTE_CLUSTERS_SEEDS, remoteClusterService::updateRemoteCluster,
-            (namespace, value) -> {});
+        if (connectToRemote) {
+            clusterSettings.addAffixUpdateConsumer(RemoteClusterService.REMOTE_CLUSTERS_SEEDS, remoteClusterService::updateRemoteCluster,
+                (namespace, value) -> {
+                });
+        }
     }
 
     public void sendFreeContext(Transport.Connection connection, final long contextId, SearchRequest request) {
@@ -390,8 +395,10 @@ Transport.Connection getConnection(DiscoveryNode node) {
 
     @Override
     protected void doStart() {
-        // here we start to connect to the remote clusters
-        remoteClusterService.initializeRemoteClusters();
+        if (connectToRemote) {
+            // here we start to connect to the remote clusters
+            remoteClusterService.initializeRemoteClusters();
+        }
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/ClusterSettings.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/ClusterSettings.java
index 64b09adb43411..5f7466f4ddae8 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/ClusterSettings.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/ClusterSettings.java
@@ -266,6 +266,7 @@ public void apply(Settings value, Settings current, Settings previous) {
                     RemoteClusterService.REMOTE_CONNECTIONS_PER_CLUSTER,
                     RemoteClusterService.REMOTE_INITIAL_CONNECTION_TIMEOUT_SETTING,
                     RemoteClusterService.REMOTE_NODE_ATTRIBUTE,
+                    RemoteClusterService.ENABLE_REMOTE_CLUSTERS,
                     TransportService.TRACE_LOG_EXCLUDE_SETTING,
                     TransportService.TRACE_LOG_INCLUDE_SETTING,
                     TransportCloseIndexAction.CLUSTER_INDICES_CLOSE_ENABLE_SETTING,
diff --git a/docs/reference/modules/cross-cluster-search.asciidoc b/docs/reference/modules/cross-cluster-search.asciidoc
index 1fa2693678ead..e1b6d86eda385 100644
--- a/docs/reference/modules/cross-cluster-search.asciidoc
+++ b/docs/reference/modules/cross-cluster-search.asciidoc
@@ -128,3 +128,10 @@ will be prefixed with their remote cluster name:
   `node.attr.gateway: true` such that only nodes with this attribute will be
   connected to if `search.remote.node.attr` is set to `gateway`.
 
+`search.remote.connect`::
+ By default, any node in the cluster can act as a cross-cluster client and connect to remote clusters.
+ The `search.remote.connect` setting can be set to `false` (defaults to `true`) to prevent certain nodes from
+ connecting to remote clusters. Cross-cluster search requests must be sent to a node that is allowed to act as a
+ cross-cluster client.
+
+
diff --git a/qa/multi-cluster-search/build.gradle b/qa/multi-cluster-search/build.gradle
index b48cd9a3dd1e3..385c547cf6dea 100644
--- a/qa/multi-cluster-search/build.gradle
+++ b/qa/multi-cluster-search/build.gradle
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ task remoteClusterTest(type: RestIntegTestTask) {
     distribution = 'zip'
     numNodes = 2
     clusterName = 'remote-cluster'
+    setting 'search.remote.connect', false
   }
   systemProperty 'tests.rest.suite', 'remote_cluster'
 }
@@ -37,7 +38,7 @@ task mixedClusterTest(type: RestIntegTestTask) {
     distribution = 'zip'
     setting 'search.remote.my_remote_cluster.seeds', "\"${-> remoteClusterTest.nodes.get(0).transportUri()}\""
     setting 'search.remote.connections_per_cluster', 1
-
+    setting 'search.remote.connect', true
   }
   systemProperty 'tests.rest.suite', 'multi_cluster'
   finalizedBy 'remoteClusterTest#node0.stop','remoteClusterTest#node1.stop'